Rumors
by Chocolat313
Summary: AU, Voldemort died in the Dpt of Mystery, life is back to normal, except for those who have to deal with human stupidity. OS, possibly extended later. M for mention of zoopholia (in jest, but better safe than sorry)


The sky was, for the first time in weeks, clear. Draco sighed. Stars. He hadn't been able to see those in a while, and he had missed it. He liked coming to the astronomy tower; its door was quite heavily warded, and he didn't think many people were able to go through the complex bits of magic that protected the precious telescopes. Here he could think, let go off stream. Forget a little about the pressure.

He was startled out of his contemplation by the feeling of strong magic. Whoever it was didn't go for subtlety. The wards, which he had carefully replaced and strengthened, were down in a blink. He turned to face the door, wary of the absolute fury he had felt in the magic. In the threshold stood Hermione Granger, eyes blazing with fury, unseeing, her face devoid of all color, slightly shaking in anger. Draco involuntary took a step back. It hurt his pride to admit it, but she _was_ scary. And unpredictable.

Her eyes passed Draco, uncaring, and her gaze focused on the telescopes, a slow smile erupting on her face. Her eyes blazed with something akin to madness. Very slowly, she made her way to the astronomy instruments. She picked one very carefully, delicately even. And then she hurled it against the wall with all the strength she could muster. It shattered, glass piling on the floor, shining in the moonlight, while the brass cylinder lied, contorted, like the ruins of some fallen empire.

Seven telescopes later, a beautiful scene of destruction before her eyes, Hermione began to calm down and seemingly to regain consciousness. She looked at the mess she had done. It had felt good, but she couldn't let things like that. After all, neither the telescopes nor their owners had wronged her. With a sigh and a flourish of her wand, she repaired them, putting them all back into place. She was supposed to be the responsible one, after all. The sensible one. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. Sometimes –no, very often actually- she felt like she was the only one with some sensibility. Which was downright arrogant of her, and maybe a little mean, but was it her fault if people were _stupid_?

She approached the railing, wishing to loose herself in the contemplation of the stars. She did not notice the silent figure watching her on her side, concentrating on her breathing. She had broken enough things in one night.

Draco stared at the Gryffindor beside him, who was trying to calm herself down, still obvious to her surroundings. He had rarely seen such a display of raw rage and frustration. Deciding it was better not to startle her (never surprise a mad one!) and curious, he turned to her and spoke.

"Granger."

She didn't move for a time, and then her shoulder slumped.

"Malfoy. Great. Just great. As if you hadn't done enough"

He looked at her, surprised by her defeated tone and her accusation. Since his return to Hogwart, after the ministry failure of the previous year, and the subsequent death of the Dark Lord in the Ministry, he had been careful to avoid her and her friends. He racked his brain, trying to find what he may have done that caused such a display of fury. Nothing. No insult, no prank, no bullying in the last week. He knew the Malfoy position in the wizarding world was weakened, and new better than to alienate the "saviors of the wizarding world", however much he despised them.

"I am sorry Granger, but you must be mistaken. As extraordinary as it may seem, I did nothing to warrant your anger recently"

She seemed even more defeated.

"I _know_! You're just marginally responsible; it's not your fault if you're a prat. But it's easier to blame you than the global stupidity of the people of this school. At least I can imagine hurting you to feel better. You cannot eviscerate _stupidity_! "She sounded dejected. Then she started muttering. "Or the whole school. Or maybe we should. For the greater good of humanity. Kill all the stupid ones .But then there wouldn't be enough people on earth, and we would have to go back to farming, and when would we study? Or maybe if we massively invested in robots?"

He looked at her. He always thought she was the goody, optimistic one. Not a mass murder to be. His curiosity was awakened, and he couldn't resist asking what happened. She shot him a calculating glance, shrugged, and then said the most surprising thing so far.

"I guess I should tell you. After all, it's better if you learn it from me, since we are the ones having a mad, passionate and devious love affair. "

He looked at her as if she had sprouted a second head. She went on unperturbed.

"Yeah, tomorrow morning will be just great. Well, maybe, it won't be as horrible for you, I left before they could decide if you answered my passion" She spat. "Although there was also a theory according to which you had me under the impero… Anyway I'm going to be the next victim of the rumor mill, maybe you will escape it, but somehow I doubt it. I heard someone saying that _I_ got _you _pregnant with _Dumbledore's_ child. "

She looked ready to kill. He tried to process the information, took three heavy breaths to calm down, and asked, in a tight, controlled voice of which he was quite proud.

"What. Have. You. Done . "

"Underestimated people stupidity"

"Details"

"Well, as I said earlier, it is all because of you. Remember, at lunch, Tracy began to cry. Since you dumped her this morning, people assumed it was because of you, and Ron started a round of Malfoy-bashing"

He blinked. She went on, a little annoyed.

"Oh _come on!_ You Slytherin do it too, I heard you. Anyway, he was sprouting the usual slimy git, blabalabla, ferret, blablabla, man-whore, blablablaba…"

"Wait. _He _was sprouting? As in, you weren't? Last I remembered you were saying the same things about me "He looked at her while she waved a dismissive hand.

"Really Malfoy? You don't insult me anymore; I don't see the need to insult you. Honestly, it is all a massive loss of time and energy. Sometimes I wish people would _grow up, _but it seems like you are forever the spoiled brat you were at 11 to them. It's nice to see that you were able to change even marginally, yet the concept of _growing up_ seems to be a little bit hard to grasp for some people"

Her voice was dripping with sarcasm and frustration. He had always wondered how she could cope with the moronic people that inhabited Gryffindor tower; it seemed that she didn't. Cope, that is . He couldn't blame her, he found himself increasingly weary of the people of his house, their inability to think for themselves and their constant repetition of the same old mudblood propaganda. He motioned for her to continue.

"Anyway, Ron began to criticize your dating habits; I think he's just frustrated really" He snorted at that. "saying that Tracy was a poor dear, that she didn't deserved that, and so on… that was getting quite tiring; I mean the girl is not stupid, she knew what and who she was doing, but _no, _girls cannot think for themselves, are unable to make choices, and are forever feeble despondent creatures of the benevolence of men that need protection and comfort from them. I knew for a fact that she was not crying over you, I mean, the break up _was_ mutual, and I tried to tell him that, and he got all patronizing, which made me angry, of course. "

"Patronizing? How so? And how do you know so much about Tracy's love life? "

"I talk to people, sometimes, you know. And he began to say that I did not know what I was talking about, that she was crying over her lost innocence –I really thought I was going to kill him when he said that- and that anyway he didn't understand why anybody would want you. And that's when I made _the _mistake"

"Wait, wait, wait. Why kill him? I mean, not that I am opposed to it, really, but…"

"_Lost innocence? _ She all but shrieked, Who talks – no, who thinks like that? What is _wrong_ with wizarding society? Could you please, someday, get out of the Middle Ages? A woman worth is not defined by her so called purity, and she has the right to make whatever choices she want with her body; no one, ever, should think that because he has some dangly bits between his legs he is able to explain to a women the right and moral way to live her live, especially if he doesn't respect what he preaches!"

He looked at her, startled he thought Gryffindor were big on the morality thing, looks like it was more of a wizard thing…

"So you're not one to wait until marriage? " He asked, smirking.

"Are you mad? Marriage is serious, you'd want to test before you commit wouldn't you? What kind of backward reasoning is that? "

He couldn't help but laugh at that, and she looked at him, question in her eyes.

"And I who thought you were the proper one." He saw the flash of annoyance in her eyes, and he went on before she lashed at him. "It's not a bad thing, it's just rare… I think, to see a girl think like that. Anyway, back on track, what was the mistake? "

"It's not rare, it's common sense, you should go out more. Anyway. The Mistake. I thought. And I forgot the people who surrounded me didn't."

He couldn't help but laugh at her dejected tone. She went on.

"So Ron was droning about how nobody should want you, and then, he asked me, since I am a girl, if I could ever want you. And _that's _when it all went wrong. See, I didn't immediately retch: I considered the question. Stupid of me, I know. Anyway, I answered –no offense, really- that no, I didn't think I would ever want you, but that I could understand that one would want you to want her. Unfortunately, it seems that the Hogwart population is too obtuse to understand the concept of wanting someone to want you. So we are now star crossed lovers. "

She paused, and then, as in an afterthought, added "sorry".

"…. Why are you telling me this? "

She tilted her head. Considering the question, as she had considered the Weasel's question, as she considered every question she was asked.

"Because I thought you would be able to understand, I reckon. Plus, you won't be surprised tomorrow morning, and at last I will know that _one _person knows the truth. Even if it's pointless, really"

He looked at her. She looked so disappointed. _ That's why you shouldn't expect anything from people_, he thought. But then he processed what she said.

"What? "

"What didn't you understand, Malfoy? We are going to be Hogwarts next hot topic. We better find some juicy scandal to distract their attention as soon as possible, because however much we deny, they'll refuse to hear the truth, that's for sure"

"I _know_ that, and don't worry; I'm used to doing damage control. Tomorrow, there will be three, or, if I have enough time, four rumors about illegitimate couples. I was thinking maybe Trelawney drugging a student because she 'saw' he –or maybe she- was her fated soul mate, a Hufflepuff study group that degenerated into a three, or maybe foursome while studying Veela, and…something really shocking… lie zoophilia, or even better, dendrophilia ?" He lowered his voice, rambling aloud " Hummm yes, some torrid stuff between a mandrake and…. Well, I would have liked to use unicorns as well, really symbolic… But we can have two threesome, there would be a pattern, that would be lacking elegance, now, wouldn't it? Difficult choices, difficult choices…"

Hermione blinked. Again. And again; and again. And then she burst into laughter. Because, really, that was totally mad, and yet it was a somehow sensible response to the situation; it was more than that, it was a level headed behavior, and she hadn't been confronted to that for so long that it felt liked breathing after staying after a long time underwater. Nonsensical rumors to squash nonsensical rumors? That could, no, that _would _work. So what if it was a little bit underhanded? It was perfectly adapted to the kind of people they were dealing with: it would work, provided they were fast enough.

Malfoy stopped thinking aloud, surprised by her hilarity, looking at her expectantly, wanting her to explain herself. She didn't, but what she said was far more shocking. She actually took part in his scheming. Hermione Goody-two-shoes Granger. That was a blow to his mind. Except it shouldn't have been, he knew that she was devious, probably deviouser than all of her friends, after all, whenever she broke the rules, she never got caught, and if she was, there were no proof. Yet, shock. Because that was positively… There were no words.

"You don't need to involve a third party, you know. You could just say that instead of mating, the unicorn population of the forest univocally turned their interest toward manticores, condemning the whole herd to extinction in the long run. That should traumatize all those cutey-poney fanatics"

She sounded gleeful. She went on, speaking more to herself than to him. "And hopefully, they will be traumatized enough to put these awful pink posters from the walls"

And then he was laughing, too. Because that was funny –you had to have a very specific sense of humor to appreciate it, though-, and because she…Well, she reacted like he hoped his dorm mates would. Except, most time, they didn't. Blaise was never to be found, Theo didn't really care about the outside world, and Crabbe and Goyle were… themselves. It was hard to have a decent conversation, those days. He hadn't laughed in a while, he realized. Not since the beginning of the year. No… Not since the defeat of the Dark Lord. Not that he was saddened by the event in itself; of course, the man was a dangerous, blood-thirsty, raving lunatic. But the consequence of his fall had been dire. The imprisonment of his father. His mother, lifeless, pacing the great halls of Malfoy Manor, which seemed empty without the whole family to inhabit them. It felt good, to laugh, and to forget about the bleak look in his parent's eyes.

He turned to Granger, thankful, a half smile still playing on his lips.

"I'll go take care of that."

"Thanks. I guess I'll go down too, to those brainless… "She spluttered for a while and finally went on "I don't think I can find of something polite enough and I wouldn't like t traumatize your poor, chaste ears. Anyway, I'll just make sure to be seen, so that they don't decide that we are meeting in secret to exchange promises of eternal and undying love. "

He raised an amused eyebrow.

"Unless you count refraining yourself from plotting the demise of the whole student body as a passionate meeting, that situation is nothing but " she added hastily, remembering that they were indeed alone in a setting considered by most as the most romantic and secluded spot of the whole castle.

He snorted at that, but he had to admit that she was right. It wouldn't do to be seen together, or not to be seen at the same time.

He glanced at her, deciding on a course of action. As much as he did not want to be the next focus of Hogwarts's grapevine, he could not really blame her. As she had said, he had changed, after the Dark Lord's defeat... After the Return, he had met the Dark Lord. And he thought. He thought that this snake-faced _thing_ cared only for his power and the destruction of Potter. He thought that He would not protect them, on the contrary. He thought that He did not care about the Pureblood ideal. He thought that maybe, maybe, the Pureblood ideal was flawed.

And these thought did not give him any rest during the following year. Especially after Potter gave his interview to the _Quibbler_ and revealed the Dark Lord ancestry. It was easy enough to check, and it was true. His world really crumbled around him, that day, his already weakening belief forever shattered.

Of course he still played the role that was expected of him. He was a Malfoy and that, if anything else still meant something to him. Policies and ruler came and went, but Family ought to be protected and kept strong. Always. Hence his role in the inquisitorial Squad –Merlin, how he had hated the simpering bitch.

Then, the Department of Mystery events… Debacle… Took place. That was the end of a world. That was when he realized the extent of the patheticness of the Dark Lord (unable to deal with a bunch of kids, really?), and that was when his father was taken away from him. And from his mother. He missed him, like a deep ache in his bone, an ache that he could never talk about, because it was a weakness, because you did not miss a murder, even if to you he was just Father. He missed his mother's smile. He missed his life as it was.

And yet, that was the last push, which made all the thought he had considered as blasphemy legitimate. That was when he allowed himself to think, and he allowed his own ideas and deductions to take precedence on what he had been taught. He was smart enough to recognize that the main cause of his current unhappiness was the involvement of his family in the scheme of a madman, and not the girl in front of him. He was smart enough to recognize that blood was not, maybe, the most important thing in the universe.

Draco Malfoy would not let prejudices and assumptions dictate his behavior anymore; he did not broadcast his change of views either: that would have been quite stupid of him. Only disbelief and mistrust could possibly meet his claim.

He looked at Hermione Granger. She had changed, too. Subtly, but he had noticed some things. She was no longer a little girl desperately seeking approval, nor did she try to exist solely through her academic prowess. He had heard her refuse to let her friends copy on her, declining to be their "walking encyclopedia". He thought she was lonely. She could see the patterns, the broader game at play in the aftermath of the Dark Lord's demise. How frustrating, he thought, to be coped up with people who neither understood, nor cared, and even worse, who couldn't begin to accept that the situation had changed. How well he could understand her.

Hermione concentrated on breathing. Malfoy had been silent for a while. Suddenly he looked at her, silently assessing her, an almost sympathetic look in his eyes. Then he smiled. She looked at him, startled. She did not think he had the muscles to do that.

"Alright Granger. I'll go down, get a head start on the rumors. Are you going to go to dinner? At her puzzled look, he added, I think it would be better if we weren't even seen in the same room."

"You're probably right. I'll go to the library, and get the Ravenclaws to adopt this lovely idea about unicorns, I think. Plus, we all know that's were bookworm Granger belongs, and I wouldn't want to disappoint people, right? "

He chuckled at that. Yep, she seemed to be quite fed up with the role everyone wanted her to play. He tipped his head at her, and he want.

She was left here, wondering at this new Malfoy, who helped her without blaming her for the rumor or making any disparaging comment. After half an hour had passed, she went as well.

They spend the next week dutifully avoiding each other, mindful t be always in presence of someone else, and, if possible, in different part of the castle. Meanwhile, a study group of Ravenclaw had convinced Hagrid to lead a search party in the forest to study the new unicorn mating rituals; professor Trelawney was reminded not to take her predictions too literally, and stricter supervision of study groups was enforced. Hermione and Draco could not help but feel proud of their handiwork.

_**AN:** just a little something I felt like writing. Don't know If I'll expand it yet. However much I wish it were, English is still not my mother tongue, so please tell me if you spot any mistake (reviews are always appreciated anyway and will earn you my eternal love :) )_

Thanks for reading.

_It goes without saying that I don't own anything but the plot. _

_And for those who wondered: "Dendrophilia (or less often arborphilia or dendrophily) literally means "love of trees". The term may sometimes refer to a paraphilia in which people are sexually attracted to or sexually aroused by trees. This may involve sexual xontact or veneration as phallic symbols or both." Corsini, Raymond J. (1999). The Dictionary of Psychology. Psychology Press. p. p. 263. , quoted by our beloved Wikipedia_


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